On the other end of the line
by MoonFairyDoll
Summary: Phone conversation between two friends. EO


**Title:** On the other end of the line  
**Author:** Tany (tany24, svufan4ever at LJ)  
**Category:** Vignette, Friendship, UST  
**Pairing:** E/O  
**Feedback:** Much appreciated! ;)  
**Archive:** My Journal, CIY, contact me to archive someplace else.  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer:** Don't own the show, characters, settings, anything! They all belong to Dick Wolf NBC. I only borrow Elliot andOlivia from time to time for my own personal amusement! ;)  
**Summary:** Phone conversation between two friends.  
**Warnings:** Spoilers for Season 6 in general up to "Quarry"  
**A/N:** This is my first fic; not counting the poetry fic I wrote before. The date I used for this is based off the last date displayed in the episode "Quarry" which was December 16, 2004. _Italics_ are flashbacks.  
Special thanks to my wonderful and beautiful betas: M. (delgaserasca at LJ) and Chelsey (chelskay at LJ) Oh, and thanks to those who reviewed my poetry fic.

**Olivia Benson's Apartment  
****January 29, 2005  
****10:30 p.m.**

Olivia had just gotten out of the shower and was toweling her hair, when her phone rang. She groaned and secretly wished for it to be a wrong number. She just wanted to have a nice quiet evening; maybe curl up with a good book or listen to soothing music. She dreaded being called back to work tonight. These last few months had been incredibly difficult. All she wanted to do was relax. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. Cases haunted her dreams. It was always something different, the cult case or the young boy who disappeared in 1980; they kept her up for hours on end.

She sat on the edge of her bed and answered after the fourth ring. "Benson." But silence greeted her on the other end of the line. "Hello?" She tried again, still receiving no response.

She tried one last time, starting to feel a bit frustrated and almost hung up when she suddenly heard a familiar voice say in a soft, quiet tone. "Liv."

"El, is that you?" She asked, knowing full well it was. Concern evident in her tone.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry, were you asleep?" he asked, his voice raspy. She could sense his uncertainty.

"No, I just got out of the shower. Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah… I just… um… couldn't sleep and decided to give you a call to talk for a while." What he really wanted though was to just hear her voice. There had always been something about the way she spoke that seemed to soothe him, ever since the first day they met. And boy did he need to feel at ease at the moment. He had seen his kids that afternoon, and then he spent the rest of the day crying and moping around the house. He had finally gotten control over his tears, and called the only person that could help him get through the night.

"But if you're busy, I'll just leave you alone." He said, praying she wasn't.

"No, no… I'd love to talk to you." She answered quickly, not wanting him to hang up.

She was relieved it was Elliot. She would never admit it to him or anyone else; she loved hearing his masculine voice. He was the only person that could calm her down, make her feel better just by speaking a few words.

An awkward silence fell upon them, and they laughed at the absurdity of it. After taking a few recovering breaths Olivia was the first to speak.

"El, is everything really alright?" She asked, turning serious and feeling concerned for her partner once again.

"Yeah… I'm fine, Liv, really. You worry too much about me."

"Of course I do, that's what partners are for." She replied. He could hear the smile in her voice.

"So, how was your Saturday?"

"Oh, well it was absolutely thrilling. I went to get groceries since my fridge was absolutely deserted, decided to treat myself to some mint chocolate chip ice cream, a girl needs her ice cream and then came back to my place and did all the laundry I hadn't been able to do in weeks." She laughed, and could hear Elliot doing the same.

She was relieved to hear him laugh again. Her partner hadn't done much of that lately. She was really starting to miss his signature Stabler smile.

"How about you? How did you spend your Saturday?"

He was silent for a moment. "I saw my kids today." He said with a sad tone in his voice.

She frowned slightly and swallowed the lump in her throat at the mention of his kids. "That's good. How did it go?" She asked in a soft voice.

He closed his eyes and paused remembering the events of the day.

_Maureen had taken her younger siblings to meet their father at a small family restaurant near the house they grew up in. They sat in silence for a while after hugging and exchanging kind words. The waitress came and took their orders. _

"_I've really missed you guys"_

"_We've missed you too, Dad." Said Kathleen, a sad but knowing look in her eyes. She understood that this wasn't easy for any of them, and that sadly things could never go back to how they were before._

"_Daddy?" Lizzie asked, quietly._

"_Yes, honey."_

"_When can we come back to the house?"_

_Maureen nudged her little sister and motioned for her to be quiet._

"_Maureen, don't, it's ok." Said a weary Elliot. __He looked at his youngest daughter and sighed quietly._

"_Sweetheart," __his voice wavered ever so slightly__. "I don't know the answer to that question. I don't even know if there is an answer. All I know is that I love you guys with all my heart, and I miss having you guys around the house."_

_Lizzie nodded sadly and said, "We love you too, daddy."_

_He smiled sadly at his youngest and kissed her on top of her head._

_The waitress came back with their food. They ate mostly in silence, enjoying each other's company for what little time they could. Every once in a while they talked about how the kids were doing in school and everything else that was going on in their everyday lives._

"_How's Olivia?" asked Dickie suddenly._

"_She's doing ok." Answered Elliot, surprised that his son would ask about Liv._

"_I miss her. Could you ask her if we could go shopping with her one day?" asked Kathleen._

_Elliot smiled. His children had always admired Olivia because she was always so kind to them and he was happy that they did. "Sure, I'll ask her."_

_At the time they ordered dessert, Elliot asked "So, what do you guys want to do next?"_

_Silence reigned as each of the Stabler children looked down at the table._

_Elliot sighed, rubbed his face with his right hand and asked "Ok, guys, what's going on?"_

_Maureen was the first to speak up._

"_Actually daddy, we have to go back now."_

_Elliot frowned at his eldest and asked, "Why?"_

"_Well, I told a friend I would meet up with her later to help her study for a test, and mom told me to take the kids back early so that she could take them to the movies. She says hi, by the way."_

"_Oh. Ok… how's your mother doing?" asked a disappointed Elliot._

_Kathleen was the one to answer this time. "She's ok. Sad and a bit tired, but ok."_

"_Good, good. Tell her I said hi."_

_They ate dessert in silence, and when they were finished, Elliot asked his children, "Ready to go?"_

_They all nodded in reply and with that, Elliot paid the bill and escorted his children back to the car. He gave each of them a kiss and a hug, and waved them good-bye._

"Elliot, still there?" Olivia's voice came through the line.

"Yeah, yeah, sorry Liv. I was just thinking about today."

"You never answered me."

"What was the question?"

Olivia laughed softly and replied, "I think you're losing your memory Stabler."

Elliot smiled.

"I asked how did it go with your kids?"

"It was ok, I guess. The girls wanted to know if they could go shopping with you sometime."

"Really?" asked a surprised Olivia.

"Really. They miss you, Liv."

Olivia was really touched by that, though she didn't know how to take it. 'Why would they miss me?' she asked to herself, 'I'm just their father's partner.' She had taken the girls shopping before, but didn't think she would get a chance to do it again after the separation. After thinking about it for a while, she finally answered, "I'd love to go with them, El. Tell Maureen to give me a call."

"Will do"

There was a comfortable silence between them for a moment, each of them reveling in the fact that they were there for each other.

Suddenly Elliot spoke again, this time with a soft and somber tone. "Lizzie asked when they could come back to the house."

"I'm so sorry, El. I wish there was a way I could help you fix all this. I know how much your kids mean to you."

"You're already helping me, Liv, by being there for me like you are now. As for the rest…" He sighed, "well… it'll all fix itself in due time. If it's fixable."

"Is it?"

Elliot sighed, moved from his position on his couch and started walking up to his room. Once there he settled himself in his bed and then he answered, "I guess it depends on what we're talking about. If it's about the kids, then I sure hope we can fix this whole mess quickly so that they don't have to go through this pain anymore. They're such great kids, Liv. They'll get through this I know they will, but they're still hurting."

"I know, El. I'm sorry."

"Now…" Elliot continued. "If we're talking about my marriage, then the answer is I don't know." He laughed bitterly into the phone and carried on, "Actually I don't even know if I want to fix it. We haven't been a couple for so long, I don't think there's anything we can do about it anymore. She went from being the woman I fell in love with to just being the mother of my children. And it isn't fair to either of us. God knows it's not fair to the kids."

Olivia remained silent, saddened to hear her partner talk like this. His pain was her pain, when his heart was aching, she was aching, he just didn't know it, and she wasn't about to tell him now.

She sighed, and he said "Ok, enough about me. What about you? How have you been?"

"Oh, I'm fine, El. You know me."

He rolled his eyes even though she couldn't see him. "Exactly, that's why I know you're not fine."

"Look who's worrying too much now?" She smiled.

He laughed and then replied, "That's what partners are for," repeating her statement from earlier.

He turned serious. "Liv, I know I haven't been there for you lately and I apologize. You've been such a great friend to me these past few months, and I haven't returned the favor. I know how these last few cases have affected and you don't know how it feels to not have been able to be there for you."

"El, don't worry about it. You have more important things to be concerned about. You don't need me dumping my problems on you too."

"Olivia, whatever problems I have going on in my life right now, it doesn't mean that I have the right to forget about you, to not care. You're my partner, more than my partner, my friend, my best friend. I should be there for you no matter what, understood?"

Olivia cuddled into her bed, covered herself with her comforter and sighed wearily.

"Okay."

"You know I meant it, right?"

"Meant what?"

"What I told you about a month ago, when you were handling that difficult case, and I was in the hospital with Dickie."

"Oh, that." She said remembering his words. 'Look how great you turned out.' He had said to her, it had been more than a month, yet she still didn't want to believe him.

"It's true Liv. You may not believe me." He said expressing her own thoughts out loud and surprising her in the process, he definitely knew her too well.

"But, you are a great person. You're smart, funny, outgoing, one hell of a good cop, you don't take shit from anyone and to top it all off, you're drop dead gorgeous."

The last being what resonated more with her.

"Thanks, El." Was all she could say to him at the moment.

Once she came out of her shock she said, "Kathy is one lucky lady to have had you all to herself all these years, too bad she doesn't realize that now."

It was his turn to be shocked, and wondered what she really meant by that, but decided to let it slide for the time being.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" Elliot suddenly asked while tucking himself into bed and laying his head on his pillow.

"Excuse me?" asked Olivia surprised by his question.

"You heard me. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Um, nothing. Why?" replied Olivia, wondering what her partner had in mind.

"Maybe we could get together for some coffee or something? I mean if you want to." Elliot answered suddenly feeling like a self-conscious teenager asking the most popular girl in school to the prom. He smiled at the thought.

Olivia smiled noticing Elliot's nervousness and replied, "Sure I'd love that."

"Good, then it's a date."

"A date," said Olivia.

Silence fell upon them once more, but was broken when Olivia let out a big yawn.

They both laughed out loud and Elliot proceeded to tease his partner, "Am I boring you Benson?"

"Nah, I'm just tired. Although you do have the tendency to bore me from time to time, Stabler," Olivia said teasing Elliot back.

He laughed at this, and then said with mock offense, "Hmph! Fine, see if I'm going to pay for the coffee tomorrow."

"Of course you're paying. Because first of all you invited me, and second of all we both know what a gentleman you are." Olivia shot back while laughing at his expense.

"I'm glad you find yourself so amusing."

"Ha, ha, very funny Stabler. Be nice, or I'll stick you with all my paperwork on Monday."

He laughed at this and then replied, "You would not!"

"Just… Try… Me," said Olivia making sure to accentuate every word.

They both laughed at this, and this time it was Elliot's turn to yawn.

They laughed once more before Elliot finally said. "Hmm, I guess we better go to sleep." Feeling his eyelids shut automatically for a moment.

"Yeah, you're probably right," replied a somewhat sleepy-eyed Olivia.

"Thank you Liv."

"For what?"

"For being you, for being my friend, for listening. I don't know, for everything, I guess."

Olivia felt a slight blush creep up to her cheeks and was thankful she was talking to him on the phone and not face-to-face.

"In that case, thank you for being you, being my friend, for listening and for

everything," she echoed his sentiments.

He smiled.

"See you tomorrow Liv. What time do you want to meet me?"

"Um, I don't know, call me tomorrow morning and we'll figure it out."

"Ok."

"Good night, El."

"Good night, Liv."

And with that they both hung up, and closed their eyes. Knowing that for the first time in months they would get a full night's sleep. The security of a friend always being on the other end of the line lulled them into a deep slumber.

Fin.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Read review please, but be nice! Oh, and sorry I fell prey to the "one line Dickie syndrome", I have no idea how to write an 11 year old boy. :p


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